As stated on my last April Fool’s Day Compilation (here), the internet has been having some amazing April Fool’s jokes/pranks over the past few years.  Below are some of the best ones I’ve found today, although there are probably way more than this. If you wish to add more, please leave a comment.

Google’s CADIE:

This was a pretty massive one. CADIE infiltrated almost every area of Google. For instance, Google Images had a picture of a panda with the words

 ”Oops, I accidentally all the images!

Lulz,
    CADIE.”

CADIE was an “artificial intelligence” designed by Google. It created its own web blog, with which its posting began like a simple internet noob’s and slowly became more advanced.

Using “CADIE technology”, Google released an update to it’s Google Chrome browser which enabled the browser to view webpages in 3D. You could print off some red and cyan “glasses” off on the computer which would view these webpages.

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More will be posted as I decide when to work on this.

Je suppose que vous avez tous déjà deviné de quoi il s’agit ?

Et oui, ce cher Richard Branson qui prend déjà les réservations pour ces voyages de plaisance sub-orbitaux avec Virgin Galactics, veut aller encore plus loin. Il s’allie donc avec le plus connu des explorateurs d’URL, j’ai nommé Google.

Ceux qui me connaissent, savent que mon rêve est de finir mon existence en tant que colon sur Mars.

Et bien, la fusion de nos deux géants terriens, Virgle, annonce la colonisation de Mars pour ce siècle.

Rien que “The Adventure of Many Lifetimes” ! Sobre, n’est-ce pas ?

Ils ont déjà choisi le site d’implantation de la première mission.

Lunae planum, séparée de Sinai planum et Solis planum par Valles Marineris, équivalent martien de notre Grand canyon. Bon les proportions martiennes n’ont rien de commun pour nous pauvres Terriens, puisque Valles Marineris fait plus de 4000 km de long et une largeur allant jusqu’à 700 km de large. Mars, c’est aussi le plus haut volcan du système solaire ; Olympus Mons et ses 27 km de hauteur. Soit, je vais pas vous faire le guide touristique tout de suite.

Vue sur Valles Marineris, magnifique escarre martienne

Quand on lit le test d’admission pour les futurs volontaires, ça n’a pas l’air très sérieux mais le planning est là et connaissant ces 2 zozos là (Google et Virgin), j’ai juste hâte d’y être.

2010 : le choix d’un site d’atterrissage devra être arrêter

2014 : Virgle mettrait en orbite terrestre basse une sorte de base de départ à 3 modules

2015 : Alors si tout se passe bien Virgle 1 après atterrissage devrait déployer une batterie de robots qui mettraient en place les 1ers éléments de survie destinés aux premiers colons. Ouf

2016 : Et hop, on s’en va vers Mars, 6 personnes pour un petit trip de 5 mois. On parle souvent de 6 mois (ou plus) mais en fait tout dépend du trajet puisque vous n’êtes pas sans savoir que nos planètes se meuvent et pas à la même vitesse ni sur le même plan orbital. C’est pourquoi, il nous faut attendre une conjonction de planètes (oulala on croirait entendre madame soleil). On parle aussi de se diriger d’abord vers la Lune pour profiter de l’accélération de notre satellite. Soit évitons les détails. J’en étais où ?

Ah oui, le chemin ver Mars dans un module habitable, nommé pour l’instant boîte de thon (tuna can).

2108 : Je vous passe les détails, on se retrouve avec Virgle City. Après avoir creusé le permafrost pendant 6 ans, les Martiens (les colons terriens quoi) devraient trouver alors des micro-organismes. Bon je vous passe encore les délires sur les échanges entre la Terre et Mars, l’avènement des Mollards (euh oui ça donne mieux en anglais : dollars martiens), l’exploitation minérale de Phobos (une des 2 lunes de Mars) et le terraforming après 1 siècle qui devrait être achevé à 89 % (très optimiste). Le terraforming, en gros, c’est rendre la planète habitable pour des humains en conditions presque terriennes. Attention aux verts…qui s’opposeront alors aux rouges (non pas des communistes) qui voudront garder la planète dans son état naturel. Tiens ça ferait un bon bouquin. Ben justement Kim Stanley Robinson l’a fait après 17 ans d’investigations et d’études de toutes sortes de sciences. Ca donne une trilogie, certes parfois un peu indigeste (car précise, niveau économique, biologique, sociologique et tout des noms en -iques) mais intéressante en tant que projection de l’Humanité (pseudo ?) réaliste.

Sur ce je vais m’enfiler un mars glacé, mmmh.

Don’t everyone raise their hands at once.

The founders of Virgin and Google are planning to found the first human colony on Mars in the year 2014. Here is the website. It even has a questionnaire you can fill out to apply to be a Virgle Pioneer (kinda like the Western Expansion, only this time you’re strapping yourself to essentially a bomb and hoping for the best instead of fording the river in your wagon).

In the founders defense, the colony is not expected to truly flourish for the first hundred years. This reminds of a science fiction novel in which the colony sounds Utopian in theory, but goes horribly wrong. Who knows, maybe it will work. Or maybe this is a huge practical joke (not fair to the people who have already packed their bags and started training for weightlessness).

I am interested to see if this will really work. Maybe Mars is a good alternative to Earth, especially since we’re crapping it up so much. Personally, I will watch all the action from Earth. As long as there is oxygen in the atmosphere and trees in the ground; my feet will stay planted firmly on the planet in which I was born.

Mucho tiempo ya se vino hablando de que Google tuvo un proyecto llamado Virgle que querían llevar gente a Marte para el año 2014 (joda del día de lo inocentes). Para convertirte en colonizador tenías que enviar un video explicando porque deberías estar en la mision de conquista del planeta rojo. Y acá es cuando te das cuenta que hay gente que está mucho pero mucho peor que vos. Alegrate, no sos la peor escoria del mundo!!

“Virgle’s goal is simple: the establishment of a permanent human settlement on Mars. Larry Page, Sergey Brin and I feel strongly that contemporary technology is sufficiently advanced to make such an effort both successful and economical, and that it’s high time that humanity moved beyond Earth and began our great, long journey to explore the stars and establish our first lasting foothold on another world.”

Amazing!

千百年來，人類的科技不斷進步。小說狂想家認為，人類只要在太空建立殖民地，便可免除因資源耗盡而被滅族的厄運。

2008年4月7日刊於《蘋果日報》

On April 1st, I wanted to initiate the first annual Academy Man Art’s Festival (Fool’s Day Pageant). But numerous personal, logistic, and cultural factors led to the event being canceled.

This was the original promo video…Academy Man: Fool’s Day Pageant 2008

Promo was used as an introductory video for the Transparopticon Thesis that I’m working on.

On the First of April, I noticed this Virgle video from Larry Page & Sergey Brin

And I decided that I would spend my quiet Fool’s Day creating a response to this video …

Re: Larry Page and Sergey Brin on Virgle

The “Rub a Dub Dub” Nursery Rhyme, was the main node of synthesis.

This was a close call…I was only minutes from uploading this video before midnight, April 2…which means it would not have been included in the “responses” section of the Virgle video. Overall, it was a quiet Fool’s Day (as all of them have been since leaving Seattle in 2001)

I was so busy yesterday that I forgot to blog about Project Virgle and April fools.  For those that haven’t seen it, go here for the Project overview and here for the blog post.  It’s another one of Google’s creative random creations kind of like their logos.  Never ceases to amaze me all the things that Google comes up with – if there’s one thing to learn from Google, it’s that the small things count.

Btw, just to let the Google guys know – I’d probably be the best candidate for Mars.  I’m a world class expert on Guitar Hero (question #2) AND I like algae (question #3).  Too bad I missed the deadline.

(You can check out the Virgle applications on Youtube too.  Nothing I was super impressed with)

VIRGLE:

Virgin founder Richard Branson and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have agreed to finally take humanity to the stars and create a human settlement on Mars. For this endeavor, they formed a new company called…wait for it…Virgle!

Sir Richard Branson has announced on the Google Blog Virgle, a joint Google/ Virgin project to establish permanent human settlement on Mars.

Sir Richard writes:

Larry Page, Sergey Brin and I feel strongly that contemporary technology is sufficiently advanced to make such an effort both successful and economical, and that it’s high time that humanity moved beyond Earth and began our great, long journey to explore the stars and establish our first lasting foothold on another world…In the years to come, we’ll be sending up a series of spaceships carrying (along with the supplies and tools needed to build the new colony) what eventually will be hundreds of Mars colonists, or Virgle Pioneers — myself among them.

Virgle is currently taking applications on its site here. The official site also includes a 100 year plan for Mars Settlement and a statement explaining the benefits of the project being Open Source.

Update: there’s also a YouTube competition and official video channel.

Okay, come on — seriously. Is this Virgle thing for real?

What, you doubt us? Well, yes — Virgle is real.

What do these three things have in common?  They are today’s top April Fool’s pranks.  Check ‘em out:

1.  WestJet issues a fake press release about their new “sleeper cabins”, which allow passengers to sleep in the overhead bins where luggage is typically held.  They even issued pictures…hilarious!  She does look comfortable, though.  Maybe it’s not such a bad idea?

2.  BMW introduces Canine Repellent Alloy Protection (CRAP), an ingenious system of delivering an electric shock to any dog thinking of relieving itself against a BMW wheel.

3.  Google introduces Virgle, complete with a FAQ, press release, and a 100 year plan.  Starting in 2014, Virgin founder Richard Branson and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will be leading hundreds of users on one of the grandest adventures in human history: Project Virgle, the first permanent human colony on Mars.

And my all time favorite prank, The Taco Liberty Bell:

According to the Museum of Hoaxes, “in 1996 the Taco Bell Corporation announced that it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial. “ 

Brilliant!

Google’s Virgle:

http://www.google.com/virgle/index.html

An invitation.

      

The Legend of Zelda: The Movie (IGN)

http://movies.ign.com/articles/863/863492p1.html

World of Warcraft: Bard Class Unveiled

http://wow-europe.com/wrath/features/bard/bardclass.xml

World of Warcraft: Molten Core

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/moltencore/

So I herd u liek ?

WholeHabits.com Video #4 on the Mars Colonization Diet and How to Cook Miso Soup. WholeHabits.com is daily health tips and videos created by Francis Wolff. This is a response to Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Richard Branson about Virgle.

Já é uma tradição. Todos os anos, no dia 1º de abril, o Google espalha na internet uma história absurda – o gigante das buscas já falou que contrataria funcionários para um centro de pesquisas na Lua e lançou uma falsa bebida que prometia deixar as pessoas mais inteligentes, por exemplo. Em 2008, depois de mudar temporariamente o nome do Orkut para Yogurt (Podem ver no seu Orkut mesmo, aproveitem, ainda não é Meia Noite) e criar uma ferramenta para prever o futuro, a companhia celebrou o dia da mentira anunciando a criação de uma empresa em Marte.

O post com a brincadeira foi assinado em nome de Richard Branson, presidente do grupo Virgin. Pelo fato de ele ter se unido nesse empreendimento extraterrestre a Larry Page e Sergey Brin, co-fundadores do Google, o nome da fictícia empresa marciana será Virgle. Até um logotipo foi criado, unindo as identidades visuais das duas empresas.

“O objetivo da Virgle é simples: estabelecer um assentamento humano permanente em Marte. Larry Page, Sergey Brin e eu acreditamos que a tecnologia contemporânea é avançada o suficiente para realizar essa iniciativa [...]. Já é hora de a humanidade ir além da Terra e começar uma incrível, longa jornada para explorar as estrelas”, diz o post. Em vídeos no YouTube, os empresários também dão detalhes sobre o falso projeto.

A brincadeira ganhou página oficial e oferece um questionário para aqueles que quiserem concorrer a um emprego na Virgle. O processo de seleção será realizado até 2010, a primeira viagem está marcada para 2016 e a fundação da Cidade Virgle deve acontecer em 2015, segundo a pegadinha. “Em cem anos [2108], a população de Marte deve exceder os 100 mil habitantes.”

Nos próximos anos, diz o anúncio, a companhia enviará a Marte foguetes com suprimentos e ferramentas necessárias para construir a colônia. Entre os colonizadores de Marte (os chamados pioneiros da Virgle) estará o próprio Branson, como ele afirma no texto. Nos próximos dias, a pegadinha deve gerar diversos arquivos absurdos neste endereço do YouTube, pois a ficha de inscrição para futuros funcionários da Virgle exige o envio de vídeos.

Via EitaPeuga (meu Blog \o/)
Pelo G1

April Fools Day and the Internet seem made for each other.  And while no one matched Google’s Wake Up Kit, Custom Time, or  Mar’s journey, there were several great attempts, including the fake Economic Development newsletter that claimed Worcester as the world’s next great Megalopolis, and declared that Worcester was the “virtual” home for dozens of popular businesses:

Millions of square feet of new office space are virtually under construction in Worcester. In banking, Citigroup and Bank of America Corporation are virtually ready to call Worcester home. In ecommerce, Amazon.com, eBay, and Netflix are virtually in Worcester already. In high tech, Microsoft and Google have virtually selected Worcester for their new corporate campuses.

Maintaining the competitive spirit between Microsoft and Apple, Steve Jobs has also virtually started to scout potential office space in Worcester, including the space to be occupied by Gates. Jobs has become quite enamored with the environment of Worcester, virtually stating that “Worcester is the eighth wonder of the world! How did Bill Gates find this before me?”

Another major powerbroker to virtually become a Worcester resident, Warren Buffet has joined the chorus of high praise for Worcester as a smart choice for working and living. The “Oracle of Omaha” has taken to the city with such fervor that he virtually requested that his new nickname be the “Wisdom of Worcester.” When asked to predict the future of Worcester, Buffet provided a knowing smile and virtually reached for his wallet.

Good stuff.

In other news, City Council looks like a fun one tonight with a few key issues on the agenda:

• Can the Historical Commission allow the Montvale District to expand?  What does CSX actually own in Worcester?  Should we allow more flexible parking downtown and in the Blackstone District?  And who was that masked man anyway?

All this and more.  Same Bat Channel.